Queue

1. A queue can be defined as an ordered list which enables insert operations to be performed at one end
called REAR and delete operations to be performed at another end called FRONT.

2. Queue is referred to be as First In First Out list.

3. For example, people waiting in line for a rail ticket form a queue.

Applications of Queue

Due to the fact that queue performs actions on first in first out basis which is quite fair for the ordering
of actions. There are various applications of queues discussed as below.

1. Queues are widely used as waiting lists for a single shared resource like printer, disk, CPU.

2. Queues are used in asynchronous transfer of data (where data is not being transferred at the
same rate between two processes) for eg. pipes, file IO, sockets.

3. Queues are used as buffers in most of the applications like MP3 media player, CD player, etc.

4. Queue are used to maintain the play list in media players in order to add and remove the songs
from the play-list.

5. Queues are used in operating systems for handling interrupts.

Types of Queue

In this article, we will discuss the types of queue. But before moving towards the types, we should first
discuss the brief introduction of the queue.
What is a Queue?

Queue is the data structure that is similar to the queue in the real world. A queue is a data structure in
which whatever comes first will go out first, and it follows the FIFO (First-In-First-Out) policy. Queue can
also be defined as the list or collection in which the insertion is done from one end known as the rear
end or the tail of the queue, whereas the deletion is done from another end known as the front end or
the head of the queue.

The real-world example of a queue is the ticket queue outside a cinema hall, where the person who
enters first in the queue gets the ticket first, and the last person enters in the queue gets the ticket at
last. Similar approach is followed in the queue in data structure.

The representation of the queue is shown in the below image -

Types of Queue

Now, let's move towards the types of queue.

Types of Queue

There are four different types of queue that are listed as follows -

Types of Queue

Simple Queue or Linear Queue

Circular Queue

Priority Queue

Double Ended Queue (or Deque)

Let's discuss each of the type of queue.

Simple Queue or Linear Queue

In Linear Queue, an insertion takes place from one end while the deletion occurs from another end. The
end at which the insertion takes place is known as the rear end, and the end at which the deletion takes
place is known as front end. It strictly follows the FIFO rule.

Types of Queue

The major drawback of using a linear Queue is that insertion is done only from the rear end. If the first
three elements are deleted from the Queue, we cannot insert more elements even though the space is
available in a Linear Queue. In this case, the linear Queue shows the overflow condition as the rear is
pointing to the last element of the Queue.

To know more about the queue in data structure, you can click the link -
https://www.javatpoint.com/data-structure-queue

Circular Queue

In Circular Queue, all the nodes are represented as circular. It is similar to the linear Queue except that
the last element of the queue is connected to the first element. It is also known as Ring Buffer, as all the
ends are connected to another end. The representation of circular queue is shown in the below image -

Types of Queue

The drawback that occurs in a linear queue is overcome by using the circular queue. If the empty space
is available in a circular queue, the new element can be added in an empty space by simply incrementing
the value of rear. The main advantage of using the circular queue is better memory utilization.

To know more about the circular queue, you can click the link - https://www.javatpoint.com/circular-
queue

Priority Queue

It is a special type of queue in which the elements are arranged based on the priority. It is a special type
of queue data structure in which every element has a priority associated with it. Suppose some
elements occur with the same priority, they will be arranged according to the FIFO principle. The
representation of priority queue is shown in the below image -
Types of Queue

Insertion in priority queue takes place based on the arrival, while deletion in the priority queue occurs
based on the priority. Priority queue is mainly used to implement the CPU scheduling algorithms.

Deque (or, Double Ended Queue)

In Deque or Double Ended Queue, insertion and deletion can be done from both ends of the queue
either from the front or rear. It means that we can insert and delete elements from both front and rear
ends of the queue. Deque can be used as a palindrome checker means that if we read the string from
both ends, then the string would be the same.

Deque can be used both as stack and queue as it allows the insertion and deletion operations on both
ends. Deque can be considered as stack because stack follows the LIFO (Last In First Out) principle in
which insertion and deletion both can be performed only from one end. And in deque, it is possible to
perform both insertion and deletion from one end, and Deque does not follow the FIFO principle.

The representation of the deque is shown in the below image -

To know more about the deque, you can click the link - https://www.javatpoint.com/ds-deque

There are two types of deque that are discussed as follows -

 o Input restricted deque - As the name implies, in input restricted queue, insertion operation can
be performed at only one end, while deletion can be performed from both ends.

o Output restricted deque - As the name implies, in output restricted queue, deletion operation
can be performed at only one end, while insertion can be performed from both ends.

Now, let's see the operations performed on the queue.

Operations performed on queue

The fundamental operations that can be performed on queue are listed as follows -

o Enqueue: The Enqueue operation is used to insert the element at the rear end of the queue. It
returns void.

o Dequeue: It performs the deletion from the front-end of the queue. It also returns the element
which has been removed from the front-end. It returns an integer value.

o Peek: This is the third operation that returns the element, which is pointed by the front pointer
in the queue but does not delete it.

o Queue overflow (isfull): It shows the overflow condition when the queue is completely full.

o Queue underflow (isempty): It shows the underflow condition when the Queue is empty, i.e.,
no elements are in the Queue.
Now, let's see the ways to implement the queue.

Ways to implement the queue

There are two ways of implementing the Queue:

o Implementation using array: The sequential allocation in a Queue can be implemented using an
array. For more details, click on the below link: https://www.javatpoint.com/array-
representation-of-queue

o Implementation using Linked list: The linked list allocation in a Queue can be implemented
using a linked list. For more details, click on the below link: https://www.javatpoint.com/linked-
list-implementation-of-queue

So, that's all about the article. Hope, the article will be helpful and informative to you.

Queue Insertion Operation: Enqueue()

The enqueue() is a data manipulation operation that is used to insert elements into the stack. The
following algorithm describes the enqueue() operation in a simpler way.

Algorithm

1. START
2. Check if the queue is full.
3. If the queue is full, produce overflow error and exit.
4. If the queue is not full, increment rear pointer to point
the next empty space.
5. Add data element to the queue location, where the rear
is pointing.
6. return success.
7. END

Queue Deletion Operation: dequeue()

The dequeue() is a data manipulation operation that is used to remove elements from the stack. The
following algorithm describes the dequeue() operation in a simpler way.

Algorithm

1. START
2. Check if the queue is empty.
3. If the queue is empty, produce underflow error and exit.
4. If the queue is not empty, access the data where front
is pointing.
5. Increment front pointer to point to the next available
data element.
6. Return success.
7. END

Queue - The isFull() Operation

The isFull() operation verifies whether the stack is full.

Algorithm

1. START
2. If the count of queue elements equals the queue size,
return true
3. Otherwise, return false
4. END
Queue - The isEmpty() operation
The isEmpty() operation verifies whether the stack is empty. This operation is used to check the status of
the stack with the help of top pointer.

Algorithm

1. START
2. If the count of queue elements equals zero, return true
3. Otherwise, return false
4. END